Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen,
nobody knows but Jesus.
Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen,
Glory, hallelujah!

The people of Zebulun and Naphtali
have seen their fair amount of troubles.
Far from the centers of power or faith,
they were often considered
a people who walked in darkness.

They lived on the margins of the Promised Land
and were most often the first to be attacked
by the enemies of Israel.
Unlike many parts of Israel,
unbelievers lived among them
and intermarried with them.
They were looked down upon by their enemies
and by their fellow Israelites.

By the time Isaiah prophesies
the passage we read in the first reading today,
they’ve already been defeated by the Assyrians
and assimilated into a foreign empire.
They were no longer even considered part of God’s people.
Many had been scattered and sent into exile.
They were indeed a people who walked in darkness.

Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen,
nobody knows but Jesus.

Today, our world, our nation, even our Church
is divided.
Countries once considered allies and friends
feel betrayed and put down.
People from different political parties
are often not only not willing to speak to one another,
they often view each other as somehow tainted by evil.
Not only do they see one another as holding different views,
but they often see each other as ignorant or even worse,
as deliberately misguided
with absolutely no redeeming qualities.

Our Church, too, is divided
among those who rejoice in the changes of the past 60 years
and those who believe that the Church  has abandoned the faith.
People who don’t speak to one another
often escribe evil motives to those they simply do not understand.
In many ways,
We, too, are a people who walk in darkness.

Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen,
nobody knows but Jesus.

Isaiah, however, tells the people of Zebulun and Naphtali
that a people who walk in darkness
have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in a land of gloom
a light has shone.
Isaiah prophesies that better days are ahead,
that now is a time of hope
because God is bringing them abundant joy
and great rejoicing.

God is working wonders
they cannot yet see or understand.

And Matthew repeats those promising words
in today’s gospel.

Fishermen in Galilee are not considered the best or the brightest.
They are definitely not considered the holiest
or most righteous,
but they are the one’s Jesus calls first.
At least three of them were young,
still working for their older brother or their father.
Maybe they were ready to set off on an adventure.
However, none of them had any idea
who was calling them,
let alone where it might lead.

They may have been tired and ready for something new,
but none of them had any idea
what they were actually getting themselves into.

In fact, three of them would one day be executed
for becoming fishers of men and women,
followers of the carpenter from Nazareth.

They were in many ways
a people walking in darkness,
but they would also become
those who had seen a great light.

Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen,
nobody knows but Jesus.

Today,
as we gather to be nourished
by Word and sacrament,
we, too, are being called by Jesus,
maybe not to leave everything,
but certainly to leave those things that divide us,
to leave behind whatever makes us
a people who walk in darkness.
Like the Corinthians Paul writes to,
we are encouraged,
that there be no divisions among you,
but that you be united
in the same mind and in the same purpose…
so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.

And what is the one purpose we are called to unite around,
it is that simple message Jesus proclaimed
to the people of Zebulun and Naphtali,
Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.

Turn around, Jesus says, and see
that God’s reign has already begun.
See that God is calling us to get over our differences.
God is pointing out that we have much more in common
than we have that divides us,
that what divides us not only separates us from one another,
but also separates us from the God
who made us and who loves us all.

Sometimes we feel like nobody understands,
that no one can overcome the troubles we see,
but we’re here precisely because we believe
in the One who does know,
who does understand,
who can unite us,
and who is the light that always shine in the darkness!

Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen,
nobody knows but Jesus.
Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen,
Glory, hallelujah!